


almost

by wintersea (Afueras)



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Calm Before The Storm, Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23029504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Afueras/pseuds/wintersea
Summary: Teba, thankfully, never bats an eye at Link's silence. Whether he understands or not, he gestures outwards."Have time for a hunt?"
Comments: 4
Kudos: 63





	almost

The Flight Range is quickly becoming Link's second home. The only Divine Beast he has left before facing the Calamity is Naboris, and he knows he isn't ready for that yet. Medoh proved his archery skills to be lacking. Maybe his social skills too, judging by Revali's exasperation with him, but that isn't too important. He thinks. Anyway, he gets along fine with Teba. 

That's certainly a good thing, because he sure spends a lot of time with him now. The warrior almost always seems to be there, sometimes with Tulin and sometimes alone. Often Link comes at night to practice - warping randomly from the wild, or the desert, or anywhere - and finds himself very much not alone despite the hour, even if the other is just making arrows or re-stringing a bow that already looked fine. 

He likes Teba. The rest of the Rito are fine; they're friendly, and their treatment of him hasn't changed much after he calmed Medoh, unlike the Gorons and the Zora. They don't remember him from before, and don't seem to care whether he's a descendant or the Champion himself. There are no expectations for him here, and that's good. But he doesn't come to the mountains for Rito Village. 

"Good morning," Teba murmurs, focused on the bow in his hands. It's barely morning; Link is arriving when the first glow from the sun is just cresting behind the mountains and the stars are still visible. He nods in response, even though Teba isn't looking. They don't really talk, which is good. 

Link reaches for his own bow, currently favoring a fierce steel contraption stolen from a Lizal camp once he'd annihilated its denizens. It would probably break while he practiced today, but he had others. He felt most comfortable with light, flexible bows, enjoying the ease of use on horseback or while gliding. So, he would practice with the opposite: this heavy thing, bearing enough firepower to bury a projectile so far in a target he'd have to dig the arrowhead out with a knife if he wanted it back. 

Without another look at Teba, Link launches himself into the air. The updrafts here are not unlike Revali's, but it's freeing to be able to let go of the paraglider and know that he has plenty of time to pull it out again without crashing into the ground, as he's done many a time while learning to utilize Revali's power. Each time he's felt the Rito laughing at him, but Link can't be too offended. It's definitely a ridiculous sight. 

It's a great battle tactic, though. Soaring up and then letting go, time slowing around him as he readies a killing shot. His heartbeat even seems to slow down. It's like a prolonged instant of total concentration and absolute intent. It feels right. Part of him wonders if it's part of Revali's power, but Link had done it long before he could create the updrafts, gliding down toward enemy camps and picking them off while still in mid-air. Maybe that's his own power, echoed in the way time shudders when he sneaks up behind an enemy or when he gets the chance for a flurry of attacks that almost always end with a killing blow. 

Regardless, swooping around the Flight Range is mind-numbing. His shoulders immediately set up an ache, but he's easily able to ignore it. Every practiced free-fall is oddly relaxing, trusting himself to halt it in time, not to fall blindly into the void. It's a strange kind of trust, similar to the one he feels when he climbs a waterfall using Mipha's armor. Different from the way he trusts himself with a sword. 

Arresting himself from yet another drop in which he managed to hit five targets, Link rises up again ready to repeat it. The sun has fully risen now, though the Flight Range is largely still shadowed. Therefore, he doesn't see that he has company until he hears a beat of wings, which makes him let go of the paraglider with an embarrassing yelp. 

He rights himself almost instantly, and is glad when Teba doesn't apologize. 

"You're doing well," he says instead. Link has no response to that, especially when his hands are occupied. Not that the Rito really understand signs, though they seem to have picked up some basic ones from him. 

Teba flies upward anyway, not waiting for any kind of answer. He rides the updrafts higher than Link ever could, and swirls back over to the cabin. Link follows, realizing the ache in his shoulders is becoming harder to ignore after wrangling both the bow and the wind. 

"How are you with moving targets?"

Link makes some noncommittal flapping gestures, pointing down with a nod and up with a shake, trying to convey that while riding or standing still or even jogging, he was decent, but while in the air it was probably not something he could manage. Letting go of the paraglider made time and targets go still, and the time he had been carried by Teba, Medoh had been fairly still too. 

Teba, thankfully, never bats an eye at Link's silence. Whether he understands or not, he gestures outwards. 

"Have time for a hunt?"

Link probably doesn't, but agrees to it anyway. What he doesn't know he's agreeing to is hunting while on Teba's back, but that's happening before he can stop it. 

"Eagles," Teba says calmly, as though Link weren't on his back making yet another face at the thought of the Rito love for poultry. Birds of prey, nonetheless. 

"We'll be above them. They know to flee, and sometimes they're faster. So be quick." 

That's the last thing Teba says before levelling out from his upward climb, lingering for a split second, then pulling into a dive that puts Link's paraglider drops to shame and makes his guts do something unpleasant. It's hard to see through streaming eyes and it's hard to aim without time stalled, but Link somehow manages. 

The target, an eagle below them and to the left, lets out an earsplitting shriek and narrows its wings for a descent of its own. Teba has momentum on his side, though, and the bird is immediately in range; Link only has a second to nock the arrow and fire, truly only a second this time, but he manages, and the arrow flies true despite the wind and awkward angle. 

Link only has another split second to be grateful for the strength in his legs - born of riding horses bareback, probably - before the dive turns into a hard swoop to snatch their prey from the sky. If there were more time it would probably be astonishing to witness - Link knows why the Zora have sharp teeth, and he equally knows why the Rito are themselves equipped like birds of prey - but with his insides rearranging themselves and his muscles screaming from effort, all Link can do is hang on as Teba retrieves their kill and returns to normal flight with the bird in his beak. 

Only then does he celebrate. That was a new challenge, one probably not necessary for his quest, but he managed it. It's just an eagle, looking small in death, and it's yet another kill on Link's conscience, but that's okay. The Rito have always hunted this way, or similarly. And Teba has allowed him to share in that. 

They land back at the Flight Range moments later, though Link had half expected them to head to the village. 

"Your kill," Teba states, offering him the eagle, but he just flaps some kind of vague gesture in return, not even trying to convey a meaning except  _ no _ without being rude. Teba accepts that, and packs the bird away with his things instead. 

"Champion," he says, and Link startles, not expecting that title. "Are you ready to defeat Ganon?"

Teba's bluntness, usually a blessing, is for once off-putting. Mostly because there's no good answer. Especially not one he can get across with wild gesturing and facial expressions.

He shrugs, then stops. Raises his hands and puts them back down. 

"No," he says. His voice is raspy and disgusting. He can't remember even trying to make words since he awoke, though he knows he was at least capable of it before. He'd assumed maybe he wasn't now, and didn't let himself be bothered by it. Which means that now, it surprises him - clearly more than it does Teba, who just blinks. 

They stare at each other for another few seconds. 

"Almost," Link amends, startled again by his voice and the way it cracks mid-syllable. 

Again, Teba doesn't look surprised. He does look satisfied, though. 

"You came in Gerudo clothes. Going back to the desert?"

Link nods. 

"Rest first," Teba tells him, calm as ever. "We have a spare hammock."

Link can't quite bring himself to nod again, but he doesn't decline, either. And Teba doesn't mind, just lowering a wing in an invitation for Link to climb on. He does shake his head at that, feeling around for the part of him where a piece of Revali lives. It feels stronger here, not far from Medoh. Link briefly wonders if Revali is watching. 

Teba does look interested when Link summons the updraft, and his eyes widen as they follow Revali's faint form. It swirls upward with Link, and Link wonders if Revali can see the Flight Range, see his fellow Rito warrior. Teba's eyes are a little unfocused, and Link wonders if Revali isn't as visible to him as he is to Link, usually a crystalline reminder of his failings. There's never any real judgment in Revali's ghostly eyes, but Link can usually feel it. 

Not this time. This time Revali almost seems to linger, almost seems to fly along with the two of them for a few seconds.

And when they're in Teba's home that night, all snoring after a hearty dinner, Link looks to where he can see Medoh's red beam and wonders if to Revali, it still feels like a prison. Somehow, he doesn't think so. And that's enough to make him think  _ almost. Yes _ , he mouths to himself.

_ Almost ready.  _

**Author's Note:**

> been waiting to toss this one in till I'd posted something Not About The Rito Or Gerudo but hey


End file.
